You haven’t seen much from the blog this month, but that’s because the Lowry family has been super busy taking care of its newest member. Brendan Francis Lowry was born to Eileen and I on April 16 at 10:55 p.m. at Inova Loudoun Hospital in Ashburn, Virginia. He tipped the scales at 9lbs, 5 oz. and was 21 inches long. Both mom and baby are fantastically healthy. Brendan is even just two ounces shy of his birth weight after just 10 days. He’s going to be quite the bruiser!

Many people have asked Eileen and I how we chose his name, a STRONG Irish one at that. It was not an easy process. Most people know that we weren’t certain whether we were having a boy or a girl. It made things twice as hard as we needed to come up with both boy and girl names. We both were partial to Irish names but looked online and in name books for some time before we settled on our choices. Frankly, we just liked the way Brendan sounded. Once we started saying it, “Brendan Lowry… Brendan Lowry…,” we really liked it. Our girls name is still a secret to most; it’s being reserved for a future daughter. As for his middle name, Francis is a family name. It was Eileen’s father’s middle name and a name shared by my great grandfather Francis Witt and his son, my great uncle.

Except when he’s hungry, Brendan is the most content, chill child I’ve ever seen. He loves to be held and rocked, enjoys a good nap (as evidenced by most of these photos) and has what I assume to be a deep appreciation for Bruce Springsteen. Everyday is a new adventure. Thanks to everyone for their well wishes and thoughts. We couldn’t be more in love with this child.